One Step At A Time
by Ysa-chan and Dan-san
Summary: /OC-centric but with the some of the characters/ Hotaru and her team are preparing for the city finals in her town. But an unexpected visit from a friend of hers and a bad accident cause her to rethink her choice to play soccer. Rated T for safety.


**A/N: This is a fanfic I just come up with after watching Inazuma Eleven on my laptop. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inazuma Eleven or any material related to it. I only own the plot of the story and my OCs.**

* * *

><p>It was a clear day in Katakuri Town, Japan. A group of kids called the Midori Archers were playing in the soccer field of their school, Toneriko Junior High School.<p>

"Kenji, pass!" The brunette, Aiko Hara, called out to the headmaster's son, Kenji Yamashita. He nodded and passed it to her with one clean kick. She caught it and advanced towards Daigo Watanabe, their goalkeeper, with the goal.

"No way I'm letting you shoot! Magnitude!" Yasahiro Kudo, the hot-headed defender, cried out. He kicked the ground hard and it began to shake. Aiko jumped with the ball. "Artemis' Boost!"

Aiko hit the ball using her head with perfect accuracy towards the goal Daigo desperately tried to protect. But his hissatsu, Amaterasu's Hand, caught it.

"Good job, Daigo. You've improve your catching skills." Hotaru Kojima, the team's captain and a midfielder, complimented him. Daigo grinned. "Arigato, Hotaru-chan!"

Hotaru glanced at their coach, Satoshi Ito, who nodded. Hotaru nodded back and turned to the team. "Alright, team! Fall in!"

Everyone formed a horizontal line and waited for their coach's command.

"You guys have improve a lot. I'm sure you all are ready for the City Finals." Coach Sato, as the team would call him, said. The team smiled with pride.

"Don't worry, coach." Jiro Nakamura, the co-captain of the team and one of the forwards, said with pride. "We won't let you down."

Coach Sato nodded. "Alright. I'll cut today's practice early and you guys could work on your moves or have a strategy briefing. That is all for today."

The team nodded and everyone dispersed as Coach Sato went towards the school's building.

"Hey, Aiko! The team and I are going to practice our hissatsus and then have a strategy briefing. Are you coming or not?" Masato Ando, Aiko's childhood friend, asked her.

Aiko nodded. "Sure. Why not?"

"Great! Come on, everyone's waiting for us!" Masato said happily as he dragged Aiko to the soccer field.

"Okay, who's first to goal?" Daigo called out as he placed a ball a few feet from the goal.

Kenji raised his hand. "I'll go!"

Daigo nodded and took his position. Kenji took a deep breath and exhaled and then started to run towards the goal with the ball. "Blazing Fire!"

Kenji kicked the ball hard and the ball zoomed towards the goal, covered in flames. Daigo tried to stop it with his hissatsu, Hand of Tsukiyomi, but it broke through.

"Amazing, Kenji! You break through Daigo's Hand of Tsukiyomi!" Akito Hara, Aiko's fraternal twin, exclaimed in sheer joy. Kenji smiled sheepishly. "Thanks!"

"Alright, who's next?" Daigo called out as he placed the ball again a few feet from the goal. Azumi Morita, one of the team's defenders, stepped forward. "I'll do it."

Azumi zipped around the field and kicked the ball with blinding speed. "Apollo's Shoot!"

Daigo stopped the ball using his hissatsu, Earth Barrier, and grinned. "It'll take more than that to break the Earth Barrier."

Azumi pouted and returned to her place. Again, Daigo placed the ball a few feet from the goal. "Okay, who's next?"

While Aiko was lost in thought, Akito poked her shoulder. "Hey Aiko, are you all right?"

Aiko finally returned to her senses when Akito poked her. "Yes, I'm alright. Why?"

Akito grinned. "Why don't we try our combination hissatsu?"

Aiko thought for a while then nodded. The two of them took their positions in the field and began to pass the ball back forth with each other as they advanced towards the goal. Then, Aiko created a silver aura around her while Akito created a golden aura around him. Both of them crashed into each other and kicked the ball, leaving a silver and gold trail around it.

"Archers Blast!" Both of them yelled.

Daigo was having a hard time thinking where the ball would pass but instead, it bounced off the net and hit someone.

"Oops. I guess that was a bit stronger than I thought." Akito said sheepishly.

Jun, Masajun's nickname, glared at him. "You thought? That ball hit someone, Akito!"

"Whoa, you two, no fighting on the field." Aiko said, making sure Jun didn't hurt Akito.

"Who'll get the ball?" Jiro asked.

No one stepped forward.

Hotaru sighed. "I'll go get it."

Hotaru jogged toward the back of the soccer field, where the ball had bounced off and helped the person up. The person was a guy around her age with short, gray spiked hair and gray eyes.

"Um, are you okay?" Hotaru asked cautiously as she helped the guy to his feet.

The guy nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Sorry about that. My teammates, Akito and Aiko, didn't mean to hit you with this." Hotaru said apologetically as she showed him the soccer ball.

"It's okay. I don't think they mean no harm." The guy said, smiling. "By the way, I'm Fubuki Shirou. What's your name?"

"I'm Hotaru Kojima. Nice to meet you." Hotaru introduced herself. Then she winced as she heard Masato shouted. "Hey, Hotaru! Are you going to talk all day or are you going to practice with us?"

Hotaru smiled sheepishly. "Um, I'd better get going. See you later?"

Fubuki smiled. "Yeah, sure. See you later."

Hotaru nodded and jogged back to the soccer field, where everyone was waiting for her impatiently.

"Finally!" Jin Takeda, a forward of the team, exclaimed in relief. "I thought you were going to chat with that guy all day!"

"Who was that, Hotaru?" Jiro asked.

"Um, that was Fubuki Shirou." Hotaru said.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. "FUBUKI SHIROU?"

Hotaru nodded and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you guys all so surprised?"

"Fubuki Shirou is part of the Inazum Japan, the representative soccer team of Japan." Kenji explained to Hotaru. "So if Fubuki is here, maybe the rest of the Inazuma Japan are here, too!"

"But why would they be here?" Azumi asked.

"Searching for new members?" Jun suggested.

"But didn't the FFI ended a week ago?" Yasahiro inquired.

"Well, whatever their reason is, we need to make sure we keep our head in the game and not be distracted over something like that, right team?" Aiko asked.

"Right!" Everyone else chided.

"Alright, let's get back to practice!" Jiro said cheerfully.

* * *

><p>"Hai, thank God that our soccer practice is worth it..." Aiko said as she laid down on the grass.<p>

"You could say that again." Hotaru said, lying next to Aiko. "I'm just glad that the City Finals are tomorrow and not today."

Aiko looked at her with a puzzled look. "Why?"

"My mom told me I have to finish my Algebra homework or I won't join the city finals tomorrow." Hotaru told Aiko and shuddered. "And I hate Algebra."

Aiko nodded. "Okay, you'd better get going and finish your homework or we'll be short on players tomorrow."

Hotaru smiled sheepishly. "Oh, right. Bye, Aiko."

Aiko just nodded as Hotaru stood up and sprinted back to her home. While she was jogging, she saw Jin walking by himself.

"Hi, Jin." Hotaru said as she stopped jogging.

Jin smiled. "Hi. Going home?"

"Yep." Hotaru said.

"Let me walk you home." Jin offered.

Hotaru nodded. "Okay."

Both of them talked about different soccer strategies and techniques while they fell into step together easily on their way home.

"Oh, we're already at my place." Hotaru said as both of them stopped in front of a plain, cream-colored house. "Why don't you come over for a drink? You must be thirsty after our practice."

"Sure. Thanks, Hotaru-chan." Shiro said gratefully.

Hotaru blushed slightly. She opened the door to her house, expecting her younger sister, Hikari, to pounce at her at any minute now. But what Hotaru didn't expect that a friend of hers from a long time is standing in front of her.

"Hi, Hotaru-chan!"

* * *

><p><strong>Love it? Hate it?<strong>

**A quick reminder, Katakuri Town and Toneriko Academy are settings I just made up so they don't really exist in Japan.**

**Anyways, Arigato if you are reading this and please review!**

**From, **

**Ysa-chan  
><strong>


End file.
